France, Germany, Switzerland in a motorhome
Discussion
Hi All,
I'm looking for some advice / inspiration to a summer trip we will be taking this summer during school holidays.
We have approximately 3.5 weeks between our eurotunnel crossings and we are thinking of attempting the following....
- Down the east side of France towards Switzerland (Maybe using Belgium / Luxemberg)
- Possibly going to the Vosgues area of France
- Possibly going to Switzerland for a few days
- Possibly Lake Konstanz in Germany
- The Black Forest area of Germany
- Drive back through Germany, effectively following the Rhine valley
Day 1 is a big drive as we couldn't get a Eurotunnel crossing early in the day so will be driving from home => Folkestone and getting the 16:20 eurotunnel, bringing us into France at around 6pm, Ideally I'd like to drive an hour or two into France / Belgium that night
We would really like to include lakeside campsites to allow us to use the kayak we have, and also some decent places for family bike riding. We're not massive fans of towns etc as it just leads to the kids going on a "I want....." spree.
Ideally I'd like to avoid tolls where possible, but obviously don't want to spend hours on slow roads without making much progress.
We will have two kids (7 & 9) so driving will probably be limited to a few hours per day, and then a stop for a night or two.
For those that have done these types of trips - are we being overambitious in attempting such a big journey, should we cut out Switzerland and Lake Konstanz and instead limit ourselves to the Vosgues / Black Forest areas of France / Germany not straying too far south or away from the France / German border.
Anyone have any recopmmendations based on the above, recommendations on routes / campsites and generally whether our trip might be too much driving, not enough relaxing etc gratefully received.
I'm looking for some advice / inspiration to a summer trip we will be taking this summer during school holidays.
We have approximately 3.5 weeks between our eurotunnel crossings and we are thinking of attempting the following....
- Down the east side of France towards Switzerland (Maybe using Belgium / Luxemberg)
- Possibly going to the Vosgues area of France
- Possibly going to Switzerland for a few days
- Possibly Lake Konstanz in Germany
- The Black Forest area of Germany
- Drive back through Germany, effectively following the Rhine valley
Day 1 is a big drive as we couldn't get a Eurotunnel crossing early in the day so will be driving from home => Folkestone and getting the 16:20 eurotunnel, bringing us into France at around 6pm, Ideally I'd like to drive an hour or two into France / Belgium that night
We would really like to include lakeside campsites to allow us to use the kayak we have, and also some decent places for family bike riding. We're not massive fans of towns etc as it just leads to the kids going on a "I want....." spree.
Ideally I'd like to avoid tolls where possible, but obviously don't want to spend hours on slow roads without making much progress.
We will have two kids (7 & 9) so driving will probably be limited to a few hours per day, and then a stop for a night or two.
For those that have done these types of trips - are we being overambitious in attempting such a big journey, should we cut out Switzerland and Lake Konstanz and instead limit ourselves to the Vosgues / Black Forest areas of France / Germany not straying too far south or away from the France / German border.
Anyone have any recopmmendations based on the above, recommendations on routes / campsites and generally whether our trip might be too much driving, not enough relaxing etc gratefully received.
magooagain said:
How about the Alsace wine trail? It's a very beautiful part of France and plenty of nice small towns and villages etc. maybe visit a wine chateaux.
Drop down to Mulhouse for the car museum?
Thanks for this suggestion, Hadn't thought of a wine trail (I don't really drink) but looking at this online it seems perfect for the route we were thinking and in the area we were thinking. Drop down to Mulhouse for the car museum?
Our current plan (subject to change massively) is to spend a few days getting down towards Strasburg (probably via Belgium / Ardennes / Luxemburg), and then exploring the Vosgues / Rhine Valley / Black Forest areas (Possibly Konstanz) and then back home again.
After starting this thread and saying we had 3.5 weeks we've had a long think and have now changed our plans. The route / plans are still roughly the same, but we have now pushed the trip out to 5 weeks!
Current Plan is......
- Drive to the Vosges area of France via Metz / Nancy and spend a few days there
- Go to Switzerland (Interlaken area) and spend another week or so there
- Go to the Black Forest area of Germany, spend a few days there, maybe visit the Alsace area of France by cris-crossing the Rhine
- Slowly make our way home via the Rhine valley, then pick up the Moselle River and make our way towards Luxembourg before heading back to Calais
I'm not convinced 5 weeks is long enough, but kids need to go back to school and I need to try and find a job!
Current Plan is......
- Drive to the Vosges area of France via Metz / Nancy and spend a few days there
- Go to Switzerland (Interlaken area) and spend another week or so there
- Go to the Black Forest area of Germany, spend a few days there, maybe visit the Alsace area of France by cris-crossing the Rhine
- Slowly make our way home via the Rhine valley, then pick up the Moselle River and make our way towards Luxembourg before heading back to Calais
I'm not convinced 5 weeks is long enough, but kids need to go back to school and I need to try and find a job!
Thanks for all of the suggestions previously, we are now on our trip......
We got the eurotunnel last Friday (27th August), basically during all of the delays. Our scheduled crossing was 16:20, we eventually left the UK at around 19:20 and arrived in France in the dark and in the middle of a massive thunderstorm. Rather than drive for anothr few hours we stayed at a small aire at Gravelines between Calais and Dunkirk. The aire was basic, but just outside the moat and the fort town so we looked around on the Saturday morning
Saturday was spent driving through Belgium and Luxembourg, staying saturday night at an aire in Amneville. This was a little weird as the aire was basically a wooded area at the back of a large leisure area (hotels / zoo / casino / cinema etc)
Sunday was a relatively short drive to Gerardmer in the Vosgues, and effectively the start of our holiday. We stayed for 3 days at camping les sapins which is 200m from the lake, and a 15 minute walk from the town. Campsite was great and cost around 29euro per night for motorhome, 2 adults, 2 kids, dog and electric, pitch was approx 10m x 8m
We then moved to Xonrupt-Longemer which is about 5km from Gerardmer and stayed for 3 nights at camping du lac which is just across a quiet road from lake longemer. A much more basic site and more crammed in, but at a cost of 40euro for 3 nights it was excellent value, i would have still been happy at twice the price.
Today we travelled a few miles again and are based at Camping Vauban on the edge of the fort town of Neuf-Brisach, this site is great, massive pitches and massively spread out, but very very quiet. We’ll stay here for a couple of days and 5hen head down towards Basel and into Switzerland.
So far our biggest problem has been the heat... i never though i’d say that, but with much of the past 8 days being over 30c, with some days hitting 38c it has been very hot, today with an outside temperature of 36c and no breeze the van was hitting 42c inside and there was no escape. Sleeping has been very difficult in these temperatures. Luckily the lakes have been lovely and the inflatable kayak has had a lot of use.
We got the eurotunnel last Friday (27th August), basically during all of the delays. Our scheduled crossing was 16:20, we eventually left the UK at around 19:20 and arrived in France in the dark and in the middle of a massive thunderstorm. Rather than drive for anothr few hours we stayed at a small aire at Gravelines between Calais and Dunkirk. The aire was basic, but just outside the moat and the fort town so we looked around on the Saturday morning
Saturday was spent driving through Belgium and Luxembourg, staying saturday night at an aire in Amneville. This was a little weird as the aire was basically a wooded area at the back of a large leisure area (hotels / zoo / casino / cinema etc)
Sunday was a relatively short drive to Gerardmer in the Vosgues, and effectively the start of our holiday. We stayed for 3 days at camping les sapins which is 200m from the lake, and a 15 minute walk from the town. Campsite was great and cost around 29euro per night for motorhome, 2 adults, 2 kids, dog and electric, pitch was approx 10m x 8m
We then moved to Xonrupt-Longemer which is about 5km from Gerardmer and stayed for 3 nights at camping du lac which is just across a quiet road from lake longemer. A much more basic site and more crammed in, but at a cost of 40euro for 3 nights it was excellent value, i would have still been happy at twice the price.
Today we travelled a few miles again and are based at Camping Vauban on the edge of the fort town of Neuf-Brisach, this site is great, massive pitches and massively spread out, but very very quiet. We’ll stay here for a couple of days and 5hen head down towards Basel and into Switzerland.
So far our biggest problem has been the heat... i never though i’d say that, but with much of the past 8 days being over 30c, with some days hitting 38c it has been very hot, today with an outside temperature of 36c and no breeze the van was hitting 42c inside and there was no escape. Sleeping has been very difficult in these temperatures. Luckily the lakes have been lovely and the inflatable kayak has had a lot of use.
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